1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices that analyze connectors and transceivers used to interconnect computer equipment and more specifically to a non-invasive small computer system interface (SCSI) bus monitoring interface and analysis system.
2. Description of the Background
Small computer systems interface (SCSI) is a parallel bus interface standard that is defined by a single-ended or differential electrical interface protocol. This high level protocol is similar to a system-level bus, with intelligent controllers on each SCSI device within a computer working together to manage the flow of information on a channel. SCSI architecture supports many different types of devices and operates somewhat like an additional bus for peripherals. These SCSI buses run at a variety of speeds, with new generation buses running faster than older ones, reflecting the increased performance of newer hardware. The current method of analyzing the SCSI bus is with analyzers that plug onto the SCSI bus which are designed for operation at slower speeds causing poor response characteristics and failures when used with today's faster buses. Additionally, present analyzers are very specific in that they require large-scale software upgrades to be utilized with each new SCSI bus. A need therefore exists for testing interfaces capable of non-invasive analysis. It would consequently be desirable to provide a universal SCSI bus analyzer interface for which performance is not degraded or negatively influenced by post processing, with the ability to filter and store data, while maintaining flexibility to use any one of number of generic logic analyzers.